The Official Website of Nicholas Wernerhttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com
Thoughts, News, and UpdatesTue, 22 May 2018 22:10:41 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/c3ca4803e4b38eedfdc0fda6bcea10bd?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngThe Official Website of Nicholas Wernerhttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com
My New Showhttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/my-new-show/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/my-new-show/#commentsWed, 09 Dec 2009 03:35:22 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=138I said some things were moving fast!

Today marks the debut of my new show for Machinima, Post Mortem. This is a space for me to give an in-depth analysis on standout aspects of remarkable games. In this inaugural episode, I look at Modern Warfare 2’s campaign and some of the gameplay and structural innovations that made it an even more daring game than you may have realized.

Check it out right here! I am very proud of how this show turned out, since it was an idea that I had that initially met with some resistance in the company, but ended getting through in what I feel is a very polished form. I hope you enjoy it.

-Nick

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/my-new-show/feed/1Nicholas WernerThe Latesthttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/the-latest/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/the-latest/#commentsFri, 04 Dec 2009 20:28:49 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=132If you haven’t been watching, there have been many, many episodes of All Your History going up over at Machinima. For the record, the show was not expected to do too well and it ended up being, of all the new series we launched at that time, the surprise winner. I thank you all for watching and making it happen, and getting it to the point where I can basically make it the way I want.

So the moral of the story is, keep on watching! There’s tons of stuff to watch — the rise and fall of Pandemic, the journey of the legendary Tim Schafer — but I’d like to give particular attention to our runs on the Call of Duty franchise and for Valve. For the Valve run I had the distinct privilege of doing an in-depth interview with its Managing Directer and founder, Gabe Newell. The interview was truly amazing and you can find lots of great pieces of it in the show; hopefully, the whole thing will soon go up independently as well.

Stay tuned for some very exciting news in the near future. After months of stalling and stagnation, a lot of things are moving very quickly now.

-Nick

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/the-latest/feed/2Nicholas WernerAll Your History: Forzahttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/all-your-history-forza/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/all-your-history-forza/#commentsWed, 07 Oct 2009 20:53:24 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=125Quick update, just to let you know that the latest All Your History Are Belong To Us, for Forza, is up. This is a one-off video. There are MANY more AYHABTU videos in the pipeline, all of which will be going up over the next few weeks. Enjoy.

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/all-your-history-forza/feed/2Nicholas WernerAll Up!https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/all-up/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/all-up/#respondTue, 22 Sep 2009 03:53:48 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=121Every episode for our first run of All Your History Are Belong To Us is now online! This first run covered the history of the Halo franchise, and is thus also something of a history of Bungie. It’s been very well received and has gotten a lot of views, and I thank everyone who watched for that.

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/all-up/feed/0Nicholas WernerThe First Episode of My New Showhttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-first-episode-of-my-new-show/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-first-episode-of-my-new-show/#commentsTue, 08 Sep 2009 17:51:35 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=109I’ve been up to many things in these last months, but yesterday the first episode of a new show I’ve been working on finally went on the air. All Your History Are Belong to Us is a documentary show I wrote and edited, in which we will trace the history of a video game franchise from its humble origins to its not-so-humble heights, with all the trials and tribulations that happened in-between. We’re kicking the show off with a five-part look at Halo.

If you’re wondering, “Nick, what happened to that machinima show you were talking about?”, all I can say is that it is still in development hell. I (once again) have assurances that we’ll be starting it up again soon… we’ll see. But if we do get the thing made, you’ll be the first to know.

‘Til next time…

-Nick

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-first-episode-of-my-new-show/feed/2Nicholas WernerDelayshttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/delays/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/delays/#commentsFri, 29 May 2009 00:49:29 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=107I do try to have some content in my posts, rather than just fill the air with noise. That’s why the silence since my last post. I’ll break that rule now since it’s been a little longer than I thought.

Basically, for various reasons, the machinima series I had been working on got pushed back. We have a tentative restart time for the middle of June. All is in the air. I am confident that the show will get back into production soon, and you can expect to see the first episode about a month after that.

In the meantime I worked on Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series for a little bit, but mostly have been hard at work trying to get my series back into production. This is more a matter of time than anything else; the company still very much wants to make it, it’s just about getting it right. Again, hopefully, everything will be go again in mid-June. If you don’t hear from me by then, don’t panic.

-Nick

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/delays/feed/1Nicholas WernerAn Essay for the Cinephile in All of Ushttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/an-essay-for-the-cinephile-in-all-of-us/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/an-essay-for-the-cinephile-in-all-of-us/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2009 00:56:57 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=103Sorry for the silence last month! I’d been hoping to release my newest essay along with a major update on the series, but alas, the series is taking longer than expected to get rolling. This is mostly a logisitics issue. Rest assured the series is still on (pilot should be done next week-ish), and as we approach the release date, I will give you all a big fat post.

But this essay just will not wait any longer! I’ve been writing this one for a while, because I wanted to make sure I got it right. At this point, it’s as good as it’s going to be. Thus, I give you The Greater Dictator, my analysis of Charlie Chaplin’s ending speech in The Great Dictator. I believe this speech is a brilliant text mostly misunderstood or ignored, because people just see it as anti-fascist rhetoric. While this is of course true, there is SO MUCH MORE going on in this speech that I just had to put it all down in writing. If you haven’t seen the film, go watch it; if you’ve already seen it, watch it again so you know what I’m talking about.

Hope you like it! If you do, be sure to let me know. And if you’re interested in more of my musings, check out the Essays section of this website.

And for those who want more moving images (with sound!), I’ll have an update on the series soon. I am excited.

-Nick

]]>https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/an-essay-for-the-cinephile-in-all-of-us/feed/4Nicholas WernerRather Big Newshttps://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/rather-big-news/
https://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/rather-big-news/#respondThu, 05 Feb 2009 10:46:18 +0000http://nicholaswerner.wordpress.com/?p=99While it’s too early to get into any hefty details, I can tell you with pride that Machinima.com has commissioned me to do a full machinima series. We’re hoping to get the first episode out by March, so watch this space throughout the month for details of what you’ll be seeing. I can say that I am excited for it, certainly!

Sometime this month, I also hope to push out a new essay that’s been gestating for a while. (That became a more involved pregnancy metaphor than I anticipated) Like I said before it’s a little something for the cinephiles in the audience.

So again, I’ll keep you guys updated as we draw closer to release. The series will be weekly so after the first episode airs you’ll be seeing new stuff in rapid succession. They will of course be posted on Machinima’s website, and also in my Videos section.

As promised, I made an “Assassin’s Creed” machinima, and it is now up on Machinima.com. I give you Assassin’s Song, a reflection of an assassin’s native city of Jerusalem, the City of God. Like I said before, this is a little bit different than what I’ve done before in that it is not so much a narrative as a musing. But I think it came together well and now it’s out there for all of you to enjoy.

As for the future, I’m hoping to get a new essay out soon, for the film nerds in the audience (you’ll see what I mean). After that, Machinima.com and I are cooking up something big — stay tuned for an official announcement when we have all the pieces in place. You’ll hear it first here, folks.

With the coming of 2009, I thought this was the perfect time to welcome you to my resurrected website. Having now graduated, I have switched from Stanford’s server over to WordPress. WordPress is quite a bit more robust than what I was working with before, so hopefully this space will be a better one to keep you all posted on what I’m up to, as well as provide a ranting space for me and my rants.

So, what am I up to, you ask? Well, the machinima I made back in college attracted the attention of no less than Machinima.com, so I am now doing freelance work for them. All my old films — Potentior, Est Mori, and Deserter — have migrated over to Machinima.com’s space now, so you can watch them there. As of this writing, I have posted one new video for them, Break. You can also check Machinima.com’s iTunes podcast, where some of my work has been (and will be) featured.

And you heard it here first, folks: I am working on another piece right now, an Assassin’s Creed machinima that I’m calling Assassin’s Song. It’s a soliloquy from an assassin to Jerusalem, the city he calls home, the city he hates just as fiercely as he loves. It’s a little different than what I’ve done before (I always try to do the opposite of the last film I made), but I’m very excited for it and I hope you enjoy it. To my knowledge, it will also have the distinction of being only the second Assassin’s Creed machinima ever made (though let me know if that’s wrong!). I’ll let you all know as soon as it’s up.

In the meantime, I would like to take a moment and thank everybody who has ever watched my work, or even read one of my essays. I do these things for the love of doing them, and it’s really an honor when you watch it and let me know what you think of it. I really do hope that this space will be a more active one than my previous website; now that I’m doing this work professionally, that shouldn’t be too hard!